


Like Smoke In The Night

by Silver_Snow_77



Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU (Comics), Red Robin (Comics)
Genre: Gen, I’m ignoring nu52 except the few bits I liked, Jason Todd is a bit of a pyro, Just assume this is a year or so post Red Robin #26 and both Batboys are in better places, Messing with mobsters for fun and profit, Mild Arson, Preslash if you squint, Tim is Tired TM, Vigilante bonding, brief mentions of prostitution mob violence and arson
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-14
Updated: 2019-03-14
Packaged: 2019-11-18 02:56:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18111839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silver_Snow_77/pseuds/Silver_Snow_77
Summary: “What are you doing?”“Committing arson. Want to join?”In which Jason Todd is a bad influence. Or perhaps a good one?





	Like Smoke In The Night

**Author's Note:**

> Beta-d by the lovely @ayzenigma. Thanks babe!
> 
> I wrote this during a creator sprint on the Capes & Coffee discord server, inspired by a prompt by @corvidprompts on Tumblr. Short and silly, but hopefully y’all like the results.

Tim is on recon duty for Bruce when he spots a suspicious shadow skulking around the edges of the property he’s observing. He looks at the windows again and sees the crooked accountant snoozing in an armchair with an open bottle of wine. Well. He supposes he should let the little drone he’s been working on take over here and go do something less boredom-inducing. For now.

Tim steps off the edge of the rooftop he’s been lurking on and sets his cape to glider mode. Wind rushes past his face as he circles around to the north corner where he last spotted the lurker, and Tim carefully adjusts his speed to avoid alerting anyone to his approach.

Tim descends at the mouth of an alleyway, just barely skimming a wrought iron fence on his way down. He lands lightly on his feet, sinking into a defensive crouch as he watches the suspicious figure before stalking towards them on silent footsteps. He waits until he’s just out of grabbing range before pausing again.

“Hood.” He whispers, readying himself to dodge. Just in case, sneaking up on a Bat is risky business.

Jason lets out a low static-y hiss through the voice modulators in his helmet and rises off his knees as he turns to take him in, nearly dropping the tool he’s been using to mess with the electronic deadbolt. His left hand makes an aborted twitch for one of his pistols, but the moment he consciously recognizes his ally he rests it on his knee.

“Damn it Timmers, you’re getting sneakier every time I see you. Warn a guy next time, wouldja?” Jason seems...tired. A bit too easy to sneak up on (overconfidence in his ability to go undetected doesn’t quite cover it), and there’s visible strain in how he’s resting more weight on his left leg than his right.

“I did.” Tim responds flatly. “What are you doing?”

“Committing arson. Want to join?” Jason offers, tilting his head and shifting onto his heels.

“Why.”

“Because, this fucker’s been in charge of counting the profits from a prostitution ring and sending it on to Black Mask. Bastard’s ‘persuaded’ three streetwalkers to keep quiet about parties they were brought to for entertainment, and he’s probably skimming off the top too. Why not make his life a bit harder?”

“Hm.” Tim’s a bit tempted. Not to directly participate, mind you. But Tim has plenty of info on the man already, and if anyone deserves to have their townhouse torched this asshole is high up the list.

“C’mon Babybird, let loose a little. I’ll let you raid his computers and his paper files first!” Jason wheedles, leaning in and wincing a little as he rests more weight on his (strained? Bruised? Will need to check that later) ankle.

Tim takes a moment to consider just how much trouble he’s going to be in with Bruce. Then he decides he can just blame any resulting fallout on Jason and dump the files he's going to snag on Detective Montoya’s desk at the end of patrol anyway.

“I’m in.” He strides to the door and lightly nudges Jason aside so that he can take over breaking in. The electronic lock is definitely trickier than the owner should be able to afford. Jason would have been able to get through in a few more minutes, but Tim will be faster.

“Yes!” Jason pumps his fist. “I feel like I’m corrupting an innocent. Sticking it to B and getting you to be a little rebel for once.”

“Oh, please.” Tim snorts. “The real trick to B is not letting him suspect you’re up to something in the first place.”

—An hour later—-

“This is surprisingly not the worst thing we’ve done. This is like, maybe halfway up the list,” Jason says through a mouthful of popcorn. He had literally gone and made said popcorn in the perp’s house, with his microwave, and the man hadn’t stirred from his drunken sleep until the smoke from his antique furniture roused him.

They’re both sitting on the roof where Tim had been staked out earlier, eating snacks and watching the accountant run around like a headless chicken while the fire trucks take their sweet time to arrive. They had carefully set things up so that no key evidence would be burned and the blaze wouldn’t harm the neighbors, despite Jason grumbling that the hoity-toity shitbags could afford new condos anytime.

“I would agree that you nearly blowing my cover during a critical mission and getting me captured rates much higher,” Tim replies, absently chewing on a protein bar and flipping through some of the paper files that detailed the accountant’s dabbles in embezzlement. The man was going to be very lucky if Sionis didn’t toss him to the dogs and hire a hit on him in Blackgate. 

“Gee willikers, Timbo, you’re still on about that? It wasn’t that bad,” Jason says, purposely flopping sideways to lean on him. Tim elbows him hard in the ribs and cuts off obnoxious laughter. “I even went and kneecapped the mooks for ya before the fighting got serious!”

“If you say so.” Tim spots Montoya exiting her squad car alongside Allen. He recalls the hovering drone (it’s been filming the whole event for posterity), finishes scanning the files to his phone before he stands, stretches, and prepares to go. “See you around, Hood. Try not to cause too much trouble.”

“Have fun with the coppers, Red,” Jason says, saluting jauntily and making no move to join him.

Tim puts the paper files and a data stick in a paper bag and leaves it in Montoya’s car before he heads off to check on Chinatown. He sees Jason wave at him before his fellow ex-Robin begins grappling away towards the Narrows, and Tim reminds himself to send Alfred a text about Jason’s injured ankle later. Someone needs to make the stubborn ass take care of himself. But for now, he has a city to worry about.


End file.
